"Excellent quick treatment for ..."

We are very pleased to read that you found asthma treatment for children at Macclesfield Hospital to be both excellent and delivered in a speedy fashion. This will be communicated the Respiratory Team.

The Trust regrets you had to take your children past people smoking in order to enter the hospital. East Cheshire Trust Hospitals are designated no smoking sites and the No Smoking Policy is available on our intranet and is incorporated in patient information. There are also signs in place around the Trust site advising people of the policy and there are regular announcements over our tannoy system at the main entrance. Actions are taken to discourage smoking including for example the benches outside A&E have been moved as this was an area where smoking occurred.

We do recognise that smoking on site remains problematical and it is clear that we are not meeting our aim of no smoking in the grounds of the Trust. We are seeking to refocus our attempts firstly by addressing the issue with the few staff who breach the policy before moving on to perhaps the more difficult issue of enforcing this with the general public.

John Wilbraham

Chief Executive